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It’s been a long time since i was on this particularly blog since it changed to my new website. If you want to continue reading my Digital Conversations blog you can follow it here >> http://www.digitalconversations.com.au/blog/

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Busy is not an excuse! Everyone is busy and you will always find time for the things you want to do however you probably don’t prioritise time on what you should or need to do.

It is amazing what you can accomplish in a short amount of time. So instead of making the ‘I’m too busy’ excuse, be proactive and break down some of these ‘need to do’ tasks into 5-minute chunks of time. So I challenge you to see what you can do in 5 minutes. (and you have lots of 5-minute breaks where you do this, no matter busy you think you are).

Here are some suggestions on what you can do in 5 minutes:

Answer some emails!

Watch 2 videos to learn something new

Sign up to a new digital platform

Make a list of potential blog articles

Create a To Do list

Schedule some of these tasks in your Email calender

Read an article or Fact Sheet

Update your LinkedIn profile

Send a thank you note or card

Retweet 3 relevant tweets to your audience

Claim a social media profile on a new channel

Make a social media post

Research a new digital topic

Subscribe to 2 or 3 newsletters of interest

Read 1-2 EDM’s sitting in your inbox

Book tickets to a new event

Book a meeting with your digital manager to start that digital strategy

Imagine if you took 3 x 5-minute breaks a day to do this, how much you would actually achieve. If you want to find the time, you will. So stop with the excuses and put some priority around building your digital visibility, before you need to use those 5 minutes to find a new job!

In mid-January 2016, Peach, a new app that lets users post status updates, images, and drawings, rocketed around social media, a week later it was declared dead, such is the lifespan of an app. Peach, was created by the founder of Vine, Dom Hofmann and is just like texting, but better. Some words you type are magic words that give you quick access to all sorts of things to share, from drawings, links, and GIFs, to the weather, your current location, what you’re watching tonight, how many steps you walked today, and much more.

Users can post status updates, images, and “magic words”—keywords that let you post where you are, what song you’re listening to, and instantly conjure up gifs associated with moods or ideas, and more. Then there’s the social aspect; your friends on the network can like and comment on your posts, like most other social media services. But Peach is different because it focuses mostly on affect. It is all about soft aesthetics: pastels, emojis, a list of friends that fades out at the bottom of your screen. There’s a nostalgic, almost amateur quality to it.

* Let someone know you’re thinking of them by sending a wave, slice of cake, kiss, hiss, and more.
* Use the magic word “shout” to write a few words (+ emoji) in BIG letters on a background.
* Use “throwback” to add a random photo from your camera, along with the date and time it was taken.
* Use “play” to start a game of Peachup.
* Other magic words: gif, here, mood, caption, good morning, goodnight, battery, weather, move, meetings, dice, time, date, movie, tv, and game. With more on the way.* Use “draw” to post a doodle or sketch.
* Use “song” to share whatever’s playing right now. Friends can tap on the song to open it in Apple Music or Spotify.

You can also be prompted with interesting questions to answer if you’re not sure of what to post. All of it goes to your home, which serves as a Facebook Wall of sorts where people can like your stuff and comment on it. No “direct” messaging here, all out in the open like Twitter. Naturally, there’s even a “wave” feature that’s like a Facebook Poke. It’s just for iOS now. I guess time will tell – Stay tuned….

Your staff is one of your biggest untapped resources. Most staff have some sort of digital footprint or presence on social media and other digital channels so doesn’t it make sense to tap into that and leverage it for the company and your staff’s personal development? It is like a sleep giant, just waiting to be awoken.

Tips to activate your employees you need to have these ingredients as a minimum:

Create a brand Employee Engagement Program – it all starts with creating a formal program that gets your internal influencers, social media lovers and driven employees on board to work together for the greater good of all involved

Get buy in from your team, particularly the influencers – you want to clearly articulate why you are implementing the program and get buy in from key staff and influencers.

Provide training – don’t just set up and expect tour staff to know what to do next, you need to provide ongoing training and support, especially in the early stages of the program. Don’t make the big mistakes of setting up then not putting any effort into the next phase.

Make it easy and create a Content Gallery for them to access – provide approved quality content, video and images that your staff can access and share. Make it easy for them and this overcomes another obstacle in the path to success.

There are many benefits for you as a business and your staff to get involved:

STAFF BENEFITS

Your company provides training which gives you new skills

Position yourself as a thought leader

Be seen by your C suite and senior manager as being a positive and active employee

Future employees can see have initiative, are a team player and driven to improve

Looks great on your resume

Reach new prospects and create personal opportunities

BUSINESS BENEFITS

SEO and more visibility to prospective clients

Creates a positive company culture

Leverage an existing asset

Get more exposure from your marketing campaigns

Increase your eyeball count and digital visibility

Be seen by new networks, potential clients & other stakeholders

Be seen as an innovative company that leads and doesn’t follow

Become an employer of choice

Inexpensive to implement

With nothing but upside, collaborating with your own staff, can be a very smart initiative to put in place, no matter how big or small your business is. It works for everyone if done the right way.

Get in touch to talk about how we can help you create the best strategy, tactics and tools for your Brand Employee Ambassador Program

I understand that many companies and managers think that social media is a massive time waster and unproductive distraction. Been there done that – we have all logged into our social media accounts while we are work. Banning from them using it doesn’t actually stop it (they can check on their smart phone). Putting strict policies in place is just ridiculous. Have you ever thought about using this to your advantage? Most of your employees already have their own online social networks & digital profile so how can you as a business, leverage these and work with your team to help you achieve goals and KPI’s?

But here is the BIG KICKER – it can actually add massive value if you use it correctly. So why is there value in social media? Here are 4 massively untapped opportunities that you need to consider ASAP

Create a Brand Employee Advocacy Programs

Your staff are your biggest asset and by empowering them you can take advantage of their networks and digital profile. Making your employees your advocates is a massive untapped opportunity that costs little when done well but allows massive amplification of brand messages across new channels. The reach of your employees combined can easily span beyond your current brand reach and adds authenticity, trustworthiness and trust to the communication equation.

Sounds simple enough however before you jump in head first you need to make sure you implement an Employee Brand Advocacy Program the right way, or it will be doomed to failure. Take time & engage a specialist to put this in place.

Use Social media & digital channels for prospecting

Social media is a great tool for getting to know your target audiences, understanding what they like & don’t like, what products they might be interested in, how they spend their free time and so much more. Their profiles actually create an ideal persona and you can get to know your prospects from afar. Being about to digitally stalk them (in a good way please) means you can find commonalities, ways to connect and get to know them much better than ever before.

Actively use Social media for customer service

Don’t make the mistake of thinking social media is all one sided. It is not. Customers reach out on social media channels to get help, ask questions, make complaints and give praise and positive feedback. If you are on social media channels then take it further and encourage your customers to connect with you to provide additional service. They are a lot of ways this can be done so get creative and see the value in the engagement this can provide.

Use Social media for internal team communicationSocial media is a hugely underutilised tool for internal communication. If you don’t have an intranet site then using different social channels for pure internal team communication can be cost effective (mostly free), productive and efficient ways to engage and connect your teams from multiple locations.

There is massive value for your business in harnessing the power of social media. So think 2,3 or 4 times before you ban your staff from your using social media. You could be cutting your nose off to spite your face!

If you need expert advice with any of these areas, start the digital conversation with me (we specialise in just this)

We’re transitioning into the ‘knowledge economy’. Digital is disrupting industries and industries are disrupting themselves. Technological innovations and machine automation are transforming the very fabric of our workforce.

This is what everyone is saying about Australia’s future, but what does it actually mean?Pay attention to the media and you’ll be bombarded with all of these buzz-terms. With so much noise, it can be hard to paint a clear picture of what the future has in store for Australia. Let’s summarise and point you in the right direction.

What is a knowledge economy?It’s an economy driven and shaped by ideas. Leading the way is innovation. New ways to deal with old, current, and future problems are developed and these solutions are sold in one form or another for profit. Both the public and commercial sectors participate, and the often intangible intellectual skills and knowledge become the commodity.

Why does Australia need to transition to a knowledge economy?We don’t make cars. In fact, we don’t make much of anything at a scale that can sustain Australia’s economic growth. We’ve also heard it a thousand times – the mining boom is over.

With traditionally tangible products becoming less valuable, Australia needs to to find value in its most widely available, yet currently most underused resource – brains!

Jobs – what will they look like in this crazy new economy?On the whole, exactly the same. It’s where these jobs will be that will change. You can simplify what this will look like to some degree. Automation means less ‘traditional’ jobs on offer for everyone – neither blue collar or white collar are spared.

At the forefront of new and expanding job markets are the people with the brains – the scientists, the programmers, and the technical wizards. They are the ones who design the machines for assembly lines, who develop artificial intelligence to do the job of your amenable accountant and your local lawyer. They’re the ones with all of that lucrative knowledge tucked away, ready to be sold for a profit.

It’s the service industry that picks up the slack. Hospitality, tourism, and sales are where the next job boom will occur. In fact, these three industries – along with healthcare and social services – are tipped to see the largest growth of new employment over the next five years.

What’s the one thing I need to remain a valuable employee in this disrupted world?The one single thing? Fortunately, it’s the one thing we all possess at some level or another – creativity.

No matter where you work, no matter what your role is, it’s creativity that will make you a truly valuable asset.

Technology is already taking care of the menial tasks such as counting, pushing buttons, and driving. These technological disruptions are set to continue as the knowledge economy picks up pace.

Thinking outside the box and creative problem solving is what will set you apart. Every business within every industry will need more creativity. Whether it’s taking a creative approach to customer service, developing the next creative billion dollar time-saving gadget, or even becoming that creative storyteller you’ve always dreamed of – it’s our creativity that the machines can’t take away from us. At least… not yet anyway.

People haven’t changed but the way we communicate with them has. In our fast paced, ‘want it now’ society technology and new digital tools & platforms are making it easier than ever to access information which is literally at our fingertips. We no longer wait for anything.

The same applies in the world of business and although recruitment is essentially all about people, in 2016 how we find clients and candidates relies on much more than just knowing a few people in our network. Your potential clients and candidates are starting the ‘people finding’ process online and they cannot find you, then you are missing out on business.

One of these channels is social media. Social networks are becoming the preferred channels for promoting talent brand. Many recruiters are using social media as an affordable channel to promote their talent brand messages however often use them in the wrong way.

Word of click is the best form of word of mouth making social recruiting a way to amplify your efforts and promote high-quality brand content to remain top of mind with candidates.

Are You Doing What 99% Of other recruiters are doing on Social Media?

Doing what everyone else is doing will continue to dilute the results you get from the time you are spending following the pack. So how should recruiters be using social media?

Start with the right channel for your candidates – just because other recruitment agencies are on Facebook doesn’t mean it is right for you and your audience. Start with audience first then channel selection next. The size, demographics and engagement level of the audience you reach depends on which social network you choose and what content you choose to post.

Put the “Social” in “Social Recruiting” – One of the main obstacles in social recruiting is getting candidates to respond and communicate with you. Encourage your recruiters to build their own professional social media accounts and showcase a little bit of their personality in their professional pages. Uploading pictures of workplace mascots and events, or sharing funny work-related photos, can help make their pages more welcoming. People want to do business with people they like.

Personal, relevant communication – a personalized message to a single candidate is much more effective than an automated message to a group of applicants. When sending out messages on LinkedIn, keep this in mind. More than 90% of hiring managers report using LinkedIn to search for potential candidates. Encourage your recruiters to send individualized, personal messages to each potential candidate, leveraging the information they locate on social media.

Have a clear strategy – not having a social or digital strategy is a great way to waste lots of money but taking a shotgun approach and hoping something sticks. It’s like wandering aimlessly around the jungle and hoping someone will find you. Be realistic. The time & money spent on hiring a specialist to create a strategy will save you much more than the initial investment in the next 6-12 months

Use new technology & digital tools – there is a plethora of digital tools, apps and new tech that can you and your team be smarter when it comes to using digital. Saved time on admin or content creation means more time in front of potential clients & candidates.

There are plenty to reason to use social media platforms for recruitment. Recruiting through social networking platforms is a good way to find the perfect candidate however according to Jobvite’s 2015 Social Recruiting Survey, 67% of job seekers are on Facebook.

Just using Linked In to recruit is outdated and ineffective. Why? Because so are 93% of companies (so you are in a busy & competitive space) and only 36% of job seekers are actually active on LinkedIn.

It’s time to get smarter. Put a plan in place, invest some time, money & resources and treat social media as a serious marketing channel that should be included in your marketing budgets.

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